Poverty in Argentina reached 40.1% and destitution reached 9.3% of the population in the first half of the year, before the devaluation implemented by the Government. In this way, poverty affected 18,632,582 people and destitution affected 4,321,272, according to official data projected for the entire country and not only the urban conglomerates measured by official statistics.

The figure is the highest recorded in the country by the National Institute of Statistics and Censuses (Indec) since the peak of 42% reached during the severe pandemic crisis in 2020 and experts in social statistics predict that the second semester will worsen by the acceleration of inflation, which this year could reach up to 190% according to some private estimates.

The previous figure was 36.5% in the first half of 2022 and 39.2% for the second half, against 40.6% in 2021 and 42% at the peak of the pandemic in 2022. For its part, the level of Destitution was 8.8% in the first six months of last year and 8.2% in the second half.

Indec reported that “the percentage of households below the poverty line (LP) reached 29.6%; 40.1% of the people reside there. Within this group, 6.8% of households are distinguished below the indigence line (LI), which includes 9.3% of people.”

SHOTLIST:
1. Several poor neighborhoods in Guernica, Buenos Aires (June 24, 2019);
2. Several feeders in poor neighborhoods of Buenos Aires (May 16, 2019);
3. Several of Buenos Aires' poor neighborhoods from the air (April 3, 2023).